December 24 - 1906 - Reginald Fessenden Transmits the First Audio Radio Broadcast

Reginald Fessenden was a long term electrical and radio researcher, so when he transmitted a radio broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1906, it wasn't all that surprising. Yet he was the very first person to send out a radio broadcast featuring music and clear audio when he played a phonograph of a Handel piece, performed two hymns on a violin, and read a Bible verse. Most people at the time thought his particular form of broadcasting radio was a complete waste of time, so his transmission was also a technological breakthrough based on years of work by Fessenden. More importantly, Fessenden's broadcast would set a template for future uses of radio by making it about something more than reports, news, or weather forecasts.